Tali's Wish
by Gingerstorm101
Summary: Tali only has one wish for Christmas.


Each year Tali only has one single wish for Christmas. But her Aba told her every year on her birthday that if she told someone her wish, it will not come true. So she keeps her wish to herself. Using every one of her holiday wishes on the same thing every year.

She only wishes for her Ima to come home. But she did not dare tell her Aba.

Dragging her feet, she follows behind her father, her head low as thoughts cross her mind, wondering how it could possibly happen. Would it be a present from Santa Christmas morning? Would it be a birthday present?

She hopes that the more she wishes for it, the sooner it will come true. No matter what her Aba and Grandpa say. She didn't believe their words to be true. Nor what her teachers at school. Everyone has told her that her Ima was dead, and had died many years ago. But Tali swore she saw the woman from the pictures watching her. Seeing glimpses of her, but the moment she tries to point to her, she's gone in a flash.

Walking into the apartment, she hangs up her backpack and coat as she does every day, and places her boots on the rack. Her Aba says a few words that she doesn't pay attention to, but if it's anything like he has said for the past week leading up to the holiday, he was going to go make dinner.

Silently, Tali pulls out her homework from her Hebrew teacher that she's been putting off since last weekend. Aba had put her in the class when she turned four; she already knew many of the words from when her Ima taught her as a baby, but with lack of use, she was slowly forgetting and falling behind. She probably knew more words in Italian than Hebrew before she started taking the classes a year and a half ago. And she only knew Italian because her Aba had made it a habit of taking her on a yearly trip to Italy during the system.

"Tali, dinner's ready _bambina_." Aba says softly, placing a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo in front of her.

She pushes away her booklet, muttering a small '_toda_', one of the words she had learned as a toddler that she had not forgotten. Even her father has used it when he was with her. She sighs and picks at her meal, slowly eating it.

Aba looks her over, not touching his meal before finally speaking. "What's wrong, Tali?" He asks, setting his fork down. "I thought you'd be more excited for the holidays. We have two weeks of fun coming up, plus Christmas! You can't forget that Santa is coming."

Tali rests her head on her hand, looks up at Aba.

"I know you don't get a big holiday celebration like your friends at school, but I'm sure the two of us will have a lot of fun." He continues.

"I haven't told Santa what I wanted, Aba."

He frowns, and Tali was worried that Santa wouldn't bring her anything that her heart truly desires. "How about this, tomorrow while we're at the mall, we stand in line and you can talk to Santa, give him your wish." She thinks it over, would it be enough time for Santa to find her Ima and bring her home? Or would she have to wait a whole year before getting her present? Is it worth it?

Finally, Tali had made up her mind. "Ok Aba, but we have to go _super_ early so Santa has enough time to get my present." Aba laughs, she loves it when she makes her Aba laugh.

Super early wasn't early enough apparently. When they had arrived at the mall five minutes after it opened, there was already a line of 20 families. Tali knew Aba didn't like lines as it was, and complained that he couldn't "use his badge", whatever that meant. But Tali promised to be patient while they waited.

A very long time has passed, and as the line grew longer, Tali got closer to Santa. As she promised, she didn't complain about waiting in line, however, she couldn't keep still. She walks around her father's legs, dragging her hand behind her on his thigh as she walks in circles. If he minded, he didn't mention it. Instead, he had asked her questions upon questions upon question. They never end! But Tali has answers so all of them.

But one question came up that she doesn't answer.

"Tali, what do you want for Christmas?" He asks, watching the Santa talking to each of the kids before getting a picture with them.

She stops in her tracks, resting her head on Aba's hip. "I can't tell you, it's a secret between me and Santa!"

He frowns at her, crouching down to meet her eye. "Is it the same thing you wished for last year?"

"I can't tell you, or it won't come true! You know that Aba!" She had told her Grandpa last year what her wish was, and she knew that's why it didn't come true. This year only one other person will know, and then it'll come true. Because Santa is magic.

Finally, it was her turn.

Tali walks towards Santa, or as he is called here, _Père Noël_ as she was taught in school. She steps forward to sit on his lap, looking over at Aba to make sure he's watching her.

"Bonjour Père Noël." She whispers.

"Bonjour petite fille, comment t'appelles-tu?"

"Tali." Santa reaches out to hold her hand, and asks her what she'd like for Christmas this year. "Je veux que ma mère rentre à la maison et reste avec moi et mon père."

The sad look in Santa's eyes shocked her. Didn't every little kid want their mom to come home? Didn't he remember her wish last year? Or out of the hundreds and hundreds of kids around the world, was she the only one to ask for her Ima?

"I will see what I can do." He says in a thick French accent.

She smiles brightly, pulling him in for a big hug. "Thank you Santa." She says in English. Then they take a picture together, one she's sure her father would hang up on the fridge like he does with all her pictures and drawings.

Christmas Eve is already here by the time her Grandpa arrives from America, and she couldn't be more excited. This is the man who spoils her rotten, telling her how much she reminds him of her mother, buying her new outfits every time they see one another. And this year was no different.

"Grandpa!"

"Talia, my dear, how good it is to see you!" Grandpa says, pulling his only granddaughter into an enormous hug. "I'm sure Junior has been keeping on his toes to keep up with you!" The older man chuckles. Junior. That's what her Grandpa calls her Aba. Uncle Tim says it's because they have the same name, but they don't. Their names are Grandpa and Aba. Nothing else.

She wants to ask, but before she can form the words, he's holding out a box to her.

"Now, Tali, you can open this, but you cannot wear it until tomorrow. Understand?" She nods, barely looking at him, distracted by the pretty colours of the wrapping paper. "Tali?"

She raises her head. "Yes Grandpa, no wearing until tomorrow."

"Well Tali," her Aba says, "let's open it and see what Grandpa got you!"

"Okay!" She giggles, taking her present to the couch in the living room and sets it on the coffee table before it. They follow, sitting down on either side of her. Taking her time, she opens it, fearing that she is going to rip the colourful paper.

Once uncovered, she opens the lid to the box and pulls out a frilly red and white dress with a large white bow and snowflakes.

"Oh Grandpa! I love it!" She says, putting it down to pulling him into another hug.

He kisses the top of her head, playing with her hair. "There is more."

Her eyes widen, turning back on the box. Underneath the dress peaked out two new buckle up dress shoes. She gasps, holding the shoes up to show her Aba. "Look Aba! I'm going to be the prettiest girl in the entire world tomorrow!"

Aba smiles softly at her before pulling her into a hug and kissing her curls. "You are always the prettiest girl in the world, Tali." He doesn't let go of her, crushing her into his chest. But she doesn't mind.

"Am I as pretty as Ima?" She asks, her face pressed into his chest.

He doesn't answer right away, but when he does, he holds her tighter. "Yes, bambina, you are as pretty as your Ima." After a moment, he pushes her back to arms-length away. "Now," He asks. "What do you say to Grandpa?"

She bounces over to the older man in the room and jumping into his arms. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Grandpa! You're the bestest Grandpa ever!"

"You're welcome my dear." Grandpa laughs, then bops her on the nose. "Now go get on one of your dresses so I can take my favourite people out for dinner." Tali giggles and skips off to her room.

She can hear her Aba and Grandpa talking in the other room, talking about someone called "Ziva", but Tali doesn't have any friends or family named Ziva. She heard her Aba and Uncle Tim talk about this person before, but it was always when she was supposed to be in bed. She didn't dare interrupt.

Pulling out a bunch of her dresses her Aba has hanging on a low pole. She lays them all out on her bed as she watched her Aba do countless times before, then she goes to her pick out her four pairs of black dress shoes and lines them up on the bed.

Then she stands back and thinks about what dress to wear for dinner.

She can hear her Aba and Grandpa talking in the living room, but she is more focused on picking out which dress she'd like to wear more.

She struggles between picking between the dark green one with the tinsel that wrapped around the dress and the white one with stars on it. It took her many minutes to pick out her outfit.

"It's Christmas!"

With a running jump, Tali catapults herself onto her Aba's bed. She lands in the middle of the bed to find that it's empty.

"Aba?" She looks around the room, finding it empty. Crouching down, she looks under the bed, calling out for her father. When she doesn't find him, she runs over to the closet, throwing open the doors and expecting her Aba to jump out to pick her up and swinging her around the room.

But no, he isn't there.

She calls out her Aba's name, walking down the hall, trailing her hand down the wall. "Aba?" She repeats, peaking into the living room to find her family dressed and sitting in front of the computer.

Her Aba looks up when she stands in the doorway, a sad smile on his face. "Merry Christmas bambina." He says softly. She doesn't say anything, locking her arms at her side. Her Aba is upset, hiding it well, but she doesn't like it when he's upset. He holds out his hand, beckoning her to come to him. "Come here, I have a present for you,"

She cocks her head at him, glancing over at her Grandpa who was strangely quiet. "What is it Aba?" She asks, taking slow steps towards him.

His smile widens, but his eyes still look sad. Did Aba cry? "It's a surprise."

"Where is it?" She takes another step forward. Aba gets up, walking away from the laptop and towards her, kneeling in front of her. "Aba?"

"Tali, please, tell me. Tell me what your wish is. What is the only thing in this world that you want?"

She can feel the pain in the back of her throat, the choking she gets when she's upset. She barely makes out her words. "No Aba, I can't; it won't come true."

"Tali, please." Her father begs. "Please."

Her tears well up in her eyes. She can't tell anyone. She can't. Her Ima would never come home if she did. She shakes her head, sniffling.

"Come Tali, I want to show you something." He pulls her into a hug, lifting her into his arms. Tali rests her head on his shoulder and wipes her nose on his shirt. He takes her over to the couch and sits her in his lap in front of the computer. "I have a surprise for you."

He raises his hand to the computer, and she follows it. On the screen is the picture of her Ima.

"Shalom, Tali." The picture comes to life.

"Ima?" Tali sniffles, wiping her eyes. "Is that really you?"

"Yes." Ima smiles. "I want to tell you something." Tali shifts in her father's lap, sitting fully in front of the screen. "I want you to know how proud I am of you. And that I love you so very much."

"Aba too?"

"Aba too." Ima confirms.

"Ima?"

"Yes, motek?"

Tali looks up at her Aba, playing with her necklace. "Are you going to come home?" The woman on the other side of the screen fidgets with her own necklace.

"Yes Tali, I'm coming home to you and Aba."

Tali's smile grew bigger, her Christmas wish is coming true.

"Merry Christmas, my sweet Tali."


End file.
